Karen Perdue

Karen Perdue was appointed in 2017 by Governor Walker. She is a lifelong Alaskan with a background in health care, public policy and interests in the history and culture of Alaska.

Regent Perdue is a graduate of Stanford University. She is semi-retired, focusing her work on critical public health issues and serves on the board of the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Foundation.

Most recently she represented the interests of Alaska’s hospitals and nursing homes as the CEO of the Alaska Hospital and Nursing Home Association. She served a decade as the Associate Vice President of Health Programs at the University of Alaska working with industry, chancellors and faculty in the expansion of the nursing, medical education, pharmacy, therapies and behavioral health academic programs.

She served as Commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services for eight years - the longest serving health commissioner since statehood. During her commissionership, the state launched the Medicaid waiver system, closed institutions that serve the developmentally disabled and implemented Denali KidCare.

She served as a congressional aide and press secretary to Senator Ted Stevens.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Rural Mental Health Association Victor Howery Award and the Alaska Historical Society for her role in the Lost Alaskans Morningside Project, which traced the history of mental health care in territorial Alaska and the ancestral information of over 5,000 Alaskans sent outside for care. She has been honored by both the Girl and Boy Scouts as a Distinguished citizen.